Migrating to Metaplay from Beamable: A Guide for Studios Evaluating Their Options

If Your Circumstances Have Changed

If you're reading this, there's a good chance recent developments at Beamable have prompted you to evaluate your backend options.

First, take a breath. Backend migrations can feel daunting, but they're manageable with the right partner and a clear plan. At Metaplay, we've helped studios navigate transitions like this before, and we're here to help you too.

This guide will walk you through what Metaplay offers, how we compare to what you're used to, and what migration actually looks like in practice.

Why Games Made With Beamable Are Looking at Metaplay

The most common concerns we hear from studios evaluating their options:

1. "What if this happens again?" — Platform uncertainty is stressful, especially when your live game depends on infrastructure you don't control.

2. "What would it cost to access our own code?" — Some platforms charge substantial fees for source code access when circumstances change. (For clarity, Metaplay ships as source so you own all your project's code from day zero.)

3. "Can we actually migrate without disrupting our live game?" — Downtime and player disruption are real concerns.

4. "Is there something better out there?" — Sometimes a forced evaluation reveals options that genuinely improve your situation.

Let's address each of these.

A Platform You Can Always Fall Back On

Let's be direct: no managed service provider can guarantee they'll exist forever. We can't promise that either. What we can offer is something more concrete: a self-hosted option that ensures you always have a path forward.

Metaplay ships with full source code access from day one — the game server, Unity SDK, and LiveOps dashboard. This isn't a premium add-on or locked behind a six-figure buyout. It's just how Metaplay works.

But source code alone isn't the whole story. What really matters is that Metaplay can be self-hosted. If our managed service ever went away, you wouldn't be scrambling to find an alternative — you'd have everything you need to run your game infrastructure independently.

That said, we still recommend starting with our managed plans for most studios. They're simpler to operate, and our team handles the infrastructure complexity so you can focus on your game. The self-hosted option is there as a safety net, not necessarily the default path.

Why does having the source matter beyond self-hosting?

• You can extend anything. Need custom matchmaking logic? Specialized analytics? You're not waiting on a vendor roadmap.
• You understand what's running. No black box. Your engineers can read, debug, and optimize the code that powers your game.
• You're never locked in. If you ever want to move to a different solution or bring everything in-house — you can.

The key difference from what you may have experienced: losing access to a managed service doesn't mean losing your game's backend. You have a concrete path to continuity.

How Metaplay Compares

If you're coming from Beamable, here's what you can expect from Metaplay:

Metaplay LiveOps Dashboard

Metaplay includes a comprehensive LiveOps dashboard where your product team can:

• Ship economy changes, game configs, and content updates — no engineering builds required
• Run A/B experiments and target player segments
• Schedule in-game events, offers, and promotions
• Manage player accounts and handle support cases
• Monitor server health and player activity in real-time

This means your designers and product managers can iterate on your live game without bottlenecking on engineering capacity.

Server-Authoritative Architecture

Metaplay is built around a server-authoritative model — your game server is the source of truth for player state, economy, and progression. This provides:

• Cheat resistance — Critical game logic runs on your server, not the client
• Consistent state — No desync issues between client and server
• Flexible persistence — Player data is managed server-side with automatic persistence

Unity SDK

The Metaplay Unity SDK integrates cleanly into your existing project. It handles client-server communication, state synchronization, and connection management — while giving you full visibility into the code if you need to customize anything.

You can download the SDK directly from portal.metaplay.dev and have a local server running in minutes.

Cloud Infrastructure

When you're ready for production, Metaplay Cloud handles:

• Automatic scaling based on player load
• Multi-region deployment options
• Database management and backups
• Monitoring, alerting, and incident response
• Regular security updates and maintenance

You focus on your game; we handle the infrastructure.

AI-Powered Development

We're investing heavily in AI tooling to make game development with Metaplay faster and more intuitive:

Instant answers with MetaplayGPT — Our custom GPT can answer questions about Metaplay's features, architecture, and best practices. No installation required — just ask.

Deep integration with your tools — We're developing an MCP server to let you connect Metaplay's documentation and SDK knowledge directly into Claude, Cursor, and other AI-powered development environments. Your AI assistant will understand Metaplay out of the box.

Agentic game development — We're building toward a future where AI agents can help implement features, analyze player incidents, and assist with migrations — all within the context of your actual project. Early work is underway at metaplaygent.com.

Cost Comparison

We won't pretend to know exactly what you're paying today, but here's what we can tell you: studios we've spoken with at industry events have found Metaplay runs at roughly half their previous backend costs.

Your mileage will vary based on your specific usage patterns, player counts, and feature requirements — but the economics tend to be favorable, especially for studios running multiple live games or planning for scale.

We're happy to do a detailed cost comparison based on your actual usage. Reach out and we'll walk through the numbers together.

What Migration Could Look Like

Every migration is different. The scope, timeline, and approach all depend on your game's complexity, data model, player scale, and how much of your current backend you're actually using. There's no one-size-fits-all playbook.

That said, here's an example of how a migration might unfold for a typical Beamable game moving to Metaplay:

Example: A Live Game Migration from Beamable to Metaplay

Initial conversations — We'd start by understanding your current setup: what features you're using, how your player data is structured, what scale you're operating at, and what timeline you're working with. This helps us identify the right approach and surface any potential complications early.

Parallel development — For most live games, running both systems in parallel during development makes sense. Your existing backend keeps serving players while you build out the Metaplay implementation, test thoroughly, and validate that everything works as expected. This minimizes risk.

Data migration planning — Player data is usually the most sensitive part. Depending on your data model, this might involve mapping your existing structures to Metaplay's approach, writing migration scripts, and planning for edge cases. The specifics vary a lot based on what you're migrating from.

Cutover — When you're confident in the new system, you coordinate the switch — typically involving a client update, data migration, and a monitoring period. The details depend on your tolerance for downtime, your update deployment strategy, and your rollback requirements.

This is just one example. Your migration might look quite different depending on your circumstances. The key point is that we're happy to work through the specifics with you and figure out an approach that fits your situation.

Getting Started

If you're evaluating your options, here's how to get started with Metaplay:

Try It Locally (Free)

The fastest way to get a feel for Metaplay is to run it yourself:

1. Sign up at portal.metaplay.dev — it's free
2. Install the Metaplay CLI: brew install metaplay
3. Initialize your Unity project: metaplay init project
4. Start a local server: metaplay dev server

You'll have a fully functional Metaplay server running locally in minutes. No cloud costs, no commitments — just explore the platform and see if it fits your needs.

Explore the LiveOps Dashboard

Want to see what the LiveOps experience looks like before installing anything? Check out our demo dashboard to explore the interface, features, and workflows.

Talk to Us

If you'd like to discuss your specific situation, migration planning, or just have questions — reach out. We're happy to help you evaluate whether Metaplay is the right fit, with no pressure and no sales pitch.

We've been in this industry a long time, and we understand that backend decisions have real stakes. Our goal is to give you the information you need to make the right choice for your studio.

Why Studios Trust Metaplay

Metaplay powers live-service games for studios including Supercell, Metacore, Trailmix, and Lessmore. These teams chose Metaplay because they needed:

• Reliability — Backend stability their players could count on
• Flexibility — The ability to extend and customize as their games evolved
• Ownership — Full source code access and no lock-in
• Support — A partner who understands the demands of live-service games

If that's what you're looking for, we'd love to chat.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does migration typically take?

It varies significantly based on your game's complexity, data model, and how much of your current backend you're using. Some straightforward migrations might take a few weeks; more complex ones could take longer. We can talk through the specifics once we understand your situation.

Will my players experience downtime during migration?

Our goal is to minimize disruption. With proper planning and a parallel development approach, player-facing downtime can often be reduced to minutes or avoided entirely with a coordinated client update.

Do I need to rewrite all my game logic?

Not necessarily. Metaplay uses C# for server-side logic, which often aligns with Unity codebases. Depending on how your current backend works, significant portions of your game logic may transfer with minimal changes.

What if I'm not sure Metaplay is right for us?

That's completely fine. Try it locally for free, explore the documentation, and talk to us with any questions. There's no commitment required to evaluate the platform.

Can you help with the actual migration work?

We're happy to discuss what support makes sense for your situation. Every migration is different, and the right level of involvement depends on your team's capacity, timeline, and the complexity of what you're migrating. Let's talk through it.